New Quality Control Policies Expected to Eliminate More than 50% of China’s Infant Milk Powder Formula Brands

China will not only adopt a registration system for baby milk powder formula, but also strengthen supervision and examination on licensed producers and knock out those failing to meet standards, an official said at a forum held over the weekend. The supervisors will scan 103 domestic milk powder firms that have been granted with the production certificate and 73 overseas producers. Policies on domestic and overseas producers will be the same, said Ma Chunliang, an official with China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA)…Full Article: Xinhua Finance Dec 2015

Key Point

China’s new infant formula polices are expected to more than half the number of Chinese infant milk powder brands to approximately 600 to 800.

ChinaAg Comments

In October 2015, new Chinese laws regulating the production and distribution of infant formula powder came into effect. These laws include instituting a new registration system, production certificates (valid for 5 years), and imported infant formula must have certify its origin. According to a Chinese dairy expert, the new law will help regulate infant formula prices and limit the number of products a company can market.

In May 2015, the standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) passed a new food safety law would go into effect on 1 October 2015. The new law stipulated that infant formula producers must register their powdered milk formula with China’s food and drug regulator. In addition, the law has increased fines and punishments for producers who add inedible substances to their products as well as suppliers who sell illegal substances to producers.

In April 2015, China’s proposed a draft amendment would force infant milk formula (e.g. milk powder) producers to register with the country’s food and drug agency.